Let’s jump right into the ten contestants who made up Wave 2 of Month 4!

Hi Dennis, 

This month’s pledge 

Another month done and I’m beginning to wonder what life after the challenge will be like?  It’s been pretty much my sole focus since January. I’m expecting a certain amount of withdrawal! 

The initial pledge for this month was the Dreadnought. I started it early on but hit a bit of a wall with a few frustrations including contaminating the white paint with bone colour and not noticing until it was too late, a few more coats needed to sort that.

I shelved the Dreadnought and instead I cracked on with finishing the jetbikes which have been ongoing since near the beginning of the challenge. They were a bit of a rescue and caked in old paint. The riders were particularly hard to strip and I got to the ‘that’ll do’ stage which became apparent when I came to paint them and the detail in the mouth grill bits was all but lost. Very happy to finish those. 

For the love heart banner tops I press molded a plastic heart from one of my daughter’s toys. The banners are the original sticker ones.

I got distracted with some other things until suddenly I realised I only had a few days left to finish the Dread! Having a deadline is a great motivator. 

One thing I’ve learnt is that painting large smooth areas is really hard to get to look smooth, lots and lots and lots of thin coats seemed to be the way to go.

Overall really happy how these have turned out, defo good enough for me and I can’t wait to get them blasting baddies on the table.

There is some serious potential fire power with this lot, I calculate a possible (though highly unlikely) 39 hits plus a flamer, finished off with a Biel Tan love tap from two power fists. 

Next month the Farseer.

April pledge –

Dreadnought, scatter laser and two power fists with flamer and shuriken catapult – 205pts

4 X guardians on jetbikes with twin linked shuriken catapults (I’ve already included the points for one of them in Feb) – 124pts

Wachtmeister: While it sounds like this months entry gave Justin a bit of a hard time it ended up looking terrific.  Biel-Tan is not an easy Craftworld to paint, especially with such large surfaces on these miniatures but Justin is more than making them look good, if he wrote they were easy I’d have believed him!

So, thought this was gonna be an easy month as it is only 2 models, how wrong I was.

Trying to push my skills even slightly took me to my limits. I ended up burnt out. Not being a great painter and painting all these model to a high standard for me was suprisingly tough mentally.

I have been looking forward to painting Asmodai but halfway through I hit a wall hard and had to dig deep to get him done and done I did. I am really happy with how he has turned out. I do find it weird doing a blue highlight instead of grey.

So finally my Dark Angels have spiritual guidance….

My terminators now have a new brother joining their ranks and this terminator comes with the much feared assault cannon.

Models painted 2

Pts 218

Total model count 13

Total pts so far 754

Wachtmeister: I’m glad Richard managed to get over the hump and finish this months entry as it looks wonderful.  Using blue instead of grey to highlight black is a hard thing for people to wrap their minds around but I generally think it looks better and in this case Richard has fed into my confirmation bias!

Phew, that’s it for Month 4 Wave 1!  If it weren’t for the early submissions I would have been in trouble as it is currently April 30^th and I need to pack up for a vacation for the next week.  I never would have been able to get it all done so I’m glad this month went smoothly for at least a few of the contestants!  I’ll see you all next week for Month 4 Wave 2!

-Wachtmeister

I barely managed to squeeze this month’s entry in on time. The first half of the month I was being a little too ambitious and printed a bunch more models including another 10 gretchen (Red Nebular ones this time) and a dreadnought. I got all the yellows down with the airbrush then made a start on the gretchen. I started by working on all 20, and whilst I got most of the work done on all of them I only had 4 days left to get Nazdreg done too. So I quickly finished 10 grots before turning my full attention to Nazdreg. I’m really happy with how he turned out because I spent almost as much time struggling to decide what colours should go where as I did actually painting him. 

Nazdreg 152pts – flamer

10 Gretchen 50pts – autopistols

April total points:

202pts

April total models:

11

Wachtmeister: I have been in Georg’s boat all challenge.  I have constantly started more figures than I painted, but at least it provides a nice start to the following month!  Nazdreg is a beast of a model, he is so cool this is the second time we’ve seen him in a challenge! 

So, April!

This month was the biggest of them all for me, with a squad of 8 Berzerkers to finish. I started converting them quite a while ago, and there’s a mix of a lot of different eras of models in the squad.

When I first did the challenge in 2023 I enjoyed converting a Space Marine Veteran Sergeant into a Chaos Marine / squad leader, so I plucked a Captain Corbulo from my bits box to lead the squad. There’s quite a few converted Space Marines in the 2nd Edition Chaos Codex (including most of John Blanche’s amazing force that is shown in it), so this is right on theme. Corbulo has clearly drunk a bit too much blood out of that chalice, gone nuts and fallen to something even darker than the black rage. Filing off the most obvious Imperial symbols, adding some battle damage and a little Khorne Icon, some jewelry chain, and a chaos chainsword and backpack, was enough to satisfy me.

An icon bearer with a flayed skin banner, a standard Chaos Marine, and two metal Berzerker “champions” from 2nd ed. bulk out the squad. The real oldies are a Realm of Chaos Khorne geezer with an axe and a weedy looking power fist, and a diminutive Khorne Chaos Renegade from 1988 (a line which I love but are very rare / expensive now). I thought about converting either but decided to leave them in peace.

Lastly there is a single Berzerker made from the 1998 3rd edition plastic kit that would stay in production for over 20 years. So many bits from this kit have gone into my armies over the years, often lopped from super cheap ebay lots, or cannibalised from models I painted as a teen, I thought it was fitting to include at least one.

I’m happy with the squad, though not in a hurry to paint any more red and gold trim for a little while. Which means next month; it’s Bloodthirster time! Cheers!

———————–

Points painted this month:

7 Khorne Berzekers – Plasma Pistol, Power Fist, Chainsaxes & Chainswords – 289 pts

1 Army Icon, Mark of Khorne, “The Flesh Banner” – 80 pts

Wachtmeister:  My first thought upon looking at this entry was how terrific it all looked with the figures from different era’s.  Mark showed how a great paint job can tie everything together.  My favorite of the bunch is definitely fallen Corbulo, he was definitely the star of the John Blanche Chaos conversion artwork and Mark more than did it justice!

———— Transmission Begins ————

Ah well that’s was a short lived streak of finishing early… back to our old ways finishing right at the deadline! 

This time my deadline finish was due to having a busy month with life, not from procrastination, I made steady progress throughout the month and finished up my pledge. Overall I can’t be too mad.

I can however be mad, that last month I didn’t make a joke about “March for Maccragge!” So consider that oversight belatedly corrected…

So onto the meat and potatoes of the month, for April I added some forward reconnaissance and a leader for my burgeoning Ultramarine army. 

This month’s 200 pt breakdown:

  – Space Marine Scout squad with heavy bolter- 115

  – Space marine Captain with plasma pistol       – 101

Total: 216 pts

And with these models finished I am only a single model away from completing this challenge! 

So what does May have in store? A mighty space marine predator!

Remember, “while the enemies of the Emperor still draw breathe there can be no peace” 

— Sam

Wachtmeister: An Ultramarine player missing out on March for Macragge is almost as bad as an Ork forgetting Orctober but since Sam is pumping out so many terrific models I guess we can’t be too mad at him!  His take on Ultramarine blue is really popping on the goblin green bases and I’m really taken by the early 90’s adoption of the eye black, it looks absolutely striking! 

Hello All,

This month see the final unit of Chaos Terminators .

5x man unit all with Power fists and 1x auto cannon coming in at Total 320pts. 

Iv had these guys years and some of the older models I have in my collection but I still think they are great .

Hope you guys like them as well .

Wachtmeister:  I think these older Chaos Terminators really held up well and of course Shepherd did an excellent job of making these brutes look like they’ve been living the trench warfare life for millennia!  Like all good Iron Warriors you can still see their hazard stripes showing through!

Maddix, Orphidian 7th (Imperial Guard Black Codex – It’s 2nd Edition!!)

<<<Message begins>>>

Commissar Karrd has established a forward post, which now requires garrisoning with a squad. I have sent our Support Squad to hold the position whilst we finalise our troop deployments.

The Emperor Protects.

<<<Message ends>>>

Month 4, Slice 4. That’s… that’s a lot of Lascannons. 

260pts Support Squad & 5 Lascannons, Veteran Sergeant

10 models

Four squads done, with most of the heavy weapons in one squad. 5 Lascannons is a lot of Anti-Tank, but as they’re all BS3 and don’t have targeters.. well, they need the weight of fire! (just wish they weren’t 30pts a pop!). Token red has again been applied to weapons and the squad details have been added. I even went back and added it to the other units too, now that I know how everything is actually being split. The markings themselves are based on the original Rogue Trader information about how they split the circle with colours, and how each Squad type has a particular helmet stripe. Blue is Support, Red Tactical, Green Assault and Yellow Command. The Green one was my choice, as I couldn’t actually find it, but it looks good so don’t care!

No bonus models this month, but you get to check out the rear of the Support Squad Sergeant (As Martin requested).

Maddix

P.s. Still need to sort out my camera, painting.. and time-keeping.  

P.P.S. They’ve always been the 7th Regiment, I don’t know what you’re talking about..

Wachtmeister: Nope, sorry Maddix.  I won’t let this turn into a plastic miniature peep show.  If you all want to see close ups of odd angles of these guardsmen, drop Maddix a line and he’ll share pictures to your heart’s desire.  In other news I know where my first mortar barrage would drop facing this unit!

Speed, Blood, and Brass!

I recently wrapped up painting a unit of Chaos Bikes and a Rhino. There’s just something about the brutal aesthetic of the World Eaters that makes every brushstroke feel aggressive.

This little force is all about speed and savagery. I imagine them tearing across the battlefield, flanking enemies, and delivering a payload of berzerkers right into the heart of the fight. Painting them was fast, gritty, and exactly the kind of chaotic fun that makes Chaos Marines such a joy to work on.

Wachtmeister: I love the deep red and brass on these Khornate nutters.  Red ones go fasta indeed, especially when driven by World Eaters looking to get into close combat!

Hi Wachtmeister,

This month I have 4 Plaguebearers and 1 Army Standard to add to the Black Legion force
Armed with:
1x Mark of Slaanesh
1x Rapturous Standard

for a total of 230 points.

The rest of the plague bearers are done this month, also the standard bearer is here this month. I’m finally happy with the black armour on this guy, it looks much brighter and blue/greener in photos but in person he’s very nice.  It’s like a nice nod to the HH Lunar Wolves colour scheme. I can hopefully maintain and refine this for the remaining Chosen left to do. It’s a bit easier to paint too which is nice.

The plague bearers were essentially the same again, they’re very enjoyable to paint. Much better month overall. Got to get started on my Keeper of secrets next month I think, there’s a lot of converting and sculpting to do there.

Cheers,
Psykka

Wachtmeister:  Once again I find myself thinking what a terrific job Psykka has done on his Plague bearers.  The browns are so nice and they really look decayed.  I think the new black armor recipe is terrific.  Using colors other than grey to highlight black looks so good, and taking advantage of a blue/green is a great way to tell the story of the Black Legions origins!

Hi!

This month has passed really fast… I did not remember all the time a little baby demands . Anyway, I managed to finish the assault squad (213 points) to a basic standard , although I’m not 100% happy with them. I’ll work a little more on the squad before the challenge ends, so they get ready for the final parade. Next month: commander Tycho. Being only one mini will help to conciliate and finish it to a good standard (fingers crossed). I’m thinking about how to paint him: true metallics or NMM?

Cheers!

Wachtmeister: As always Jaime has painted some nice Blood Angels, even if he thinks he needs to put some more work into them.  I especially like the yellow helmets.  I’m interested to see if he goes with true metallics or NMM on his Commander Tycho.  NMM will certainly make his “only mini” for the month more of a challenge!

Join us next week as we show off the remaining entries for Month 4 of the 40k 2nd Edition Challenge, Mark VI!